Cyber fraud victims and innocent account holders face frozen funds

When someone loses money to an online scam, calling 1930 quickly may help police stop the money.

However, the stolen money may pass through several bank accounts.

This can make it difficult to decide which victim should receive money first.

Sometimes, innocent people have their bank accounts frozen because criminals used their accounts or paid them unknowingly.

A new system lets victims request their money back.

Another system lets innocent account holders ask for their accounts to be unfrozen.

Mumbai Police said thousands of accounts were unblocked through this process.

Police are also being asked to freeze only the suspicious amount instead of the whole account when possible.

One shop owner in Shirdi needed almost two months to regain access after several agencies blocked his account.